MAPPED: Could YOUR home see its value COLLAPSE due to fracking?

FRACKING is set to wipe £75 BILLION off the value of Britain's homes, a shock report has revealed.

The Government has granted exploration and drilling licenses to fracking companies

Leading property experts have voiced fears the controversial drilling technique could bring the housing market close to COLLAPSE in large parts of the country.

The Government looks set to grant licenses for energy companies to explore up to 65 per cent of rural Britain in the search for underground natural gas.

That could see millions of people living in and around drilling sites lose up to 30 per cent off the value of their homes, including some of the country's best known celebrities.

Fracking is a hugely controversial technique for extracting natural gas from under the ground. Critics have warned that the drilling destabilises the Earth and causes tremors and subsidence, which could damage people's homes for miles around.

There have been reports of potential buyers pulling out of deals after discovering that fracking could take place nearby.

A leading property expert has warned that if property prices slump by just two per cent in areas earmarked for drilling, the total cost to the UK economy would be £75 billion.

However, others have previously raised fears that prices could plummet by as much as 30 per cent - the same drop homeowners living near the proposed HS2 railway line have had to endure.

If even just five per cent was wiped off house prices in affected areas, the toll would be a staggering £287.5 billion loss in value.

EXPRESS

Sites earmarked for fracking have led to potential homebuyers pulling out of deals

The prospect of fracking in your area is a bit like putting a motorway or railway through your front garden

Ray Boulger, from leading mortgage adviser John Charcol

Ray Boulger, from leading mortgage adviser John Charcol, said: “Perception is everything in the property market and from the limited evidence already available it is clear that there will indeed be a negative impact on house price valuations in areas with the prospect of fracking happening.

“The prospect of fracking in your area is a bit like putting a motorway or railway, like HS2, through your front garden - it’s going to have an impact on the valuation of your property”.

He added: “A commercial business which engages in an activity which has a demonstrable effect on residential or other commercial property values should be required to compensate property owners affected in the same way as compensation is paid when this happens as a result of a new road or railway”.

A Government paper on the effects of fracking had previously estimated that homes within a mile of drilling sites could expect to lose up to seven per cent of their original value.

However in Lancashire, buyer panic about proposals to frack countryside sites saw 50-100 per cent write-offs in some areas.

The local council has just rejected an application to explore parts of the county for natural gas.

In America, the values of Pennsylvania homes within 1.4 miles of fracking wells plummeted by 12.9 per cent.

Some of Britain's most expensive communities are just a stone's throw from where international companies like Cuadrilla are hoping to drill for gas.

EXPRESS

Fracking has raised heated debate - here it is explained

In Cheshire energy giant Celtique Energie Ltd is hoping to gain a licence to carry out underground coal gasification on the doorstep of some of the country's top professional footballers.

The area earmarked for exploration includes the county's famous 'Golden Triangle', where the average asking price is £508,388.

Its leafy villages are home to football stars including Wayne Rooney, who owns a £5m mansion in Prestbury, and Rio Ferdinand, whose £4.5m home is in nearby Alderley Edge.

Prestbury contains Britain's most expensive street outside the south east - Withinlee Road - where the average house price is £1,649,000.

In Surrey and Sussex, seven drilling sites have been pencilled in next to some of the South East's most expensive commuter towns and villages.

Even if property values slumped by only two per cent, that could still see leafy Haslemere, Surrey, lose an eye-watering £11,000 from the value of the average home.

In nearby Horsham the value of a £10m mansion formerly lived in by pop star Adele could be slashed by an astonishing £200,000.

Related articles

Speaking when the first fracking licenses were awarded in Britain, leading property expert Richard Sexton revealed that house prices could drop by as much as 30 per cent in the immediate vicinity of drilling stations.

He said: "Most people if they have a choice won’t live next to a mine. But there is another issue. That is called an earthquake and it is a bit more real. If you are getting tremors that might damage the property the lender is going to be worried.

"High Speed 2 affected prices by up to 30% for a period of time. With fracking, the fear is this could actually damage the property. But it also depends what is going on in the wider economy."

A survey of 60 estate agents in areas which will be affected by fracking revealed that most thought the loss of value per property could be as much as a tenth, while a handful estimated that prices could plummet by up to 70 per cent.

On top of that, homeowners in fracking zones have been warned that the risk of Earth tremors could cause significant hikes in their home insurance premiums, while the noxious gases given off by the process could also see health insurance bills rocket.

Paula Higgins, of HomeOwners Alliance, said: “Homeowners are being kept in the dark on how fracking will affect them. Some are already bearing the brunt through aborted sales.”

Areas where house prices are most affected by fracking:

* Average house prices in fracking areas, and a two per cent loss in value.